Sustainable value addition from forest residues: process integration and demonstration (WoodPro)

Bio-based resources from well managed forests play important roles as material in transition to a sustainable society.

In WoodPro, we will explore possibilities of new processing chains for forest residues by avoiding the conventional incineration of the residues and replacing them with step-by-step processing to produce high-value industrial chemicals and soil amendments.WoodPro will determine the most sustainable biorefining alternatives for valorizing forest residues into 2,3-butanediol, biopolymer, hydrochar and biochar.

It will analyze the value chains, for each product developed in the project, for environmental sustainability and economic feasibility considering all possible pathways.

Therefore, the multidisciplinary WoodPro project employs methodologies from chemical, microbiological, greenhouse gas measurements, bioprocess technology and mathematical modelling using the vast research infrastructure available at the Karlstad University, Natural Resources Institute Finland and the University of Eastern Finland.Development of novel forest-based products in WoodPro promotes circular economy principles and provides new business opportunities to the relevant stakeholders as the consortium collaborates with many industrial partners.

WoodPro will meet the bioeconomy policies laid out by the two countries to the transition to a low carbon society, and also contribute directly and indirectly in seven UN’s sustainable development goals.